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The Four Quarter Calendar in Building Culture

The Four Quarter Calendar in Building Culture

Posted by | Feb 16, 2020 | | 0 |

By Jake Novotny
Head Football Coach
Fountain-Fort Carson High School (CO)
Twitter: @Coach_JNovotny

 

  

Football teams are built in the off-season. As coaches, we know the importance of the seven months before the season in laying the foundation for our program’s culture. During this time, all programs are embarking on a similar process including strength and performance training, spring practices/skill development, summer programming, and leadership building. For most high schools, there is a premium placed on your players being together during this process throughout the year, for all four years, and at several schools, as they grow-up in local feeder programs. This philosophy allows several schools across the country to build rich history and traditions, align cultures, and refine skills and schemes for their players as they grow-up in the same football program over the course of many years.

At Fountain-Fort Carson High School (FFCHS), we believe in approaching our off-season no differently than anyone else. However, our school district is partnered with an active U.S. Army Base (Fort Carson is less than 10 miles from campus), resulting in the added challenge of a transient student population. With 60-70% of our student population identified as a “military child,” we must have a plan to “on-board” players that move into our school as well as develop players knowing that they may leave at any time because of their parents’ military orders for relocation. Though many coaches may see this as a difficult situation, we believe this to be a great opportunity for us to build lasting relationships with players from several different backgrounds. Most importantly, serving as a coach at FFCHS allows our coaching staff to give back to those who willingly fight for our freedoms daily by actively investing in their children. In the following paragraphs, I will outline our philosophies and plan to build a competitive team environment yearly while supporting a transient student population.

 

Culture Life Cycle:

The life cycle of our program starts over every year at FFCHS. This means that we believe that each team will have new leaders, cultures, and identities. Even though many coaches may believe this at the high school level, it is exacerbated when you have a significant portion of your program’s players coming from military households. As mentioned before, students will move in or out of school at any point in the calendar year. Therefore, as a coaching staff, we must have a clear plan for the development of our players and program yearly. The following guidelines outline our staff’s general philosophy when it comes to growing our program on a year-to-year basis taking into account our military student-athletes:

  1. They are all OUR players while at FFC no matter where they came from, or if there is potential, they may leave – coach them the same way, they deserve that.
  2. Instill our program culture (expectations, values, schemes, skills) into the players that are non-transient (usually those that are non-military or those that are military who have arranged to stay until graduation). These will be the “Carriers of the Culture” and will ensure that newcomers to the program are both “schooled-up” and welcomed.
  3. Build and grow a healthy feeder system through community engagement for both our military and non-military families.
  4. Create multiple access/entry points into the program throughout the year for student-athletes to seamlessly transition into our program (also important for our multiple sport athletes).
  5. Be “okay” with the fact that students will leave! If we have done everything in our power to build a young man athletically, academically, and socially in our program, we have created a lasting impact on his life that will make him a better person. That is WHY we coach.

 

This is the general philosophy that we focus our off-season programming around each year. With that, I will take you through the different phases of our off-season and highlight the focuses for each phase, as well as explain how each phase allows for seamless student-athlete entry and exit.

 

Post-Season Phase: (Last Game – January)

As soon as our season is over, we begin the post-season phase of our program. Just like many programs across the country, this phase centers on putting the season to rest and preparing for the upcoming year. This phase is a lot of administrative work for me as the head coach. During this time, I will compile final stats; do equipment inventory and set-up several meetings with our athletic director, coaches, and academic counselors. One of the most important things done during this phase is our senior exit interviews. I will meet with every senior that finished the football season within two weeks after the last game. This is a priority for me. In my opinion, there are several things gained from hearing the opinions of the players who will be leaving your program as they reflect on their time here. Again, as I have stated before, we have several players, including seniors, who move in at any time during the year. I do not care if they have been in our program for all four years or moved in the day school started, all of their opinions and perspectives are valuable and can help us grow our program to be a great experience for next year’s players. I believe that your out-going seniors will give you a valuable perspective on what is working and not working in your program because they can give honest reflection without the pressure of still being in the program. During these meetings, each player fills out a questionnaire (see diagram 1) and has a 10-15-minute meeting with me. I explain to them that I want their honest opinion on our program and their experience. These meetings are humbling, but I value them very much because it has helped us shape our program to be more player-focused every year.

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One Coach’s Perspective on Never Punting

One Coach’s Perspective on Never Punting

Posted by | Feb 15, 2020 | , | 0 |

By Tyler Hales
Head Coach
La Jolla Country Day School (CA)
Twitter: @Coach_Hales

Introduction:

lajolla
Over the past few years there has been a lot of talk about the no-punt philosophy thanks to the great success of Coach Kevin Kelly at Pulaski Academy (AR). Coach Kelley has done a tremendous job explaining the reasoning and benefits behind this uncommon strategy and his analysis was something that I researched extensively when I took over as head football coach in January 2014.

Our 4th down philosophy (“never punting”) not only fit our desire to play aggressively on 3th down, but it also best suited our personnel. Over the past two years, we have implemented this philosophy with great success. In 2014, La Jolla Country Day won the first 11-man CIF title in school history and in 2015 we lost in the CIF semi-finals to the eventual State finalist Coronado. Additionally, we averaged 4,476 total yards and 423 points per season since making that change. That is over 800 yards and 40 points more than the average over the previous 9 seasons.

There is no doubt in my mind that consistently going for it on 4th down has led to this offensive improvement. But the analytical part of me wanted to make sure that the numbers matched my gut feeling. This article will dive into our philosophy and the numbers that support the use of this approach at La Jolla Country Day.

It Starts with Assessing Personnel

A few other coaches and I had talked about the no-punt philosophy for a few years, so when I took over the program we immediately began to seriously discuss this approach for our varsity squad. While on paper this philosophy looked great, we wanted to really do research and a self assessment to make sure we were ready to take on this style of play. While we scoured the internet to read everything we could find about not punting, we also took an in depth look at our roster. We were coming off our worst season in over a decade (2013), finishing 5-6 and losing in the first round of the playoffs for the first time since we became 11-man in 2005. Our 2014 team would have some good senior leadership but was relatively inexperienced and very undersized. The question we asked ourselves was what do we need to differently to compete in our tough league and in playoffs?

In assessing our personnel, it was obvious that our strengths were going to be on the offensive side of the ball. We had a returning quarterback who had started every snap as a freshman and is one of the most highly recruited QBs in the nation. Surrounding him in our air raid offense was a group of good receivers and running backs. Conversely, our defense was going to be young and inexperienced. We surmised that we were likely going to be counting on our offense to lead the way in 2014. Add in the fact that our punting game in 2013 was unimpressive, averaging only 28.5 yd/punt and you can see why we were looking for a different approach.             

After analyzing the research and our personnel, we decided that we were ready to be “all in” on the “never punting” philosophy. With our personnel and with the data in mind, we wanted to keep the ball in our playmakers’ hands and keep the ball rather than voluntarily punting. The prospect of having a 50% chance of converting the 4th down rather than give our opponent the ball 20-30 yards from our spot simply made sense to us.

Defining Our 4th Down Philosophy

Of course, we knew there would be challenges in implementing this philosophy. As Coach Kelly has discussed in detail, getting your people to buy in is huge and players typically aren’t the ones you need to worry about. One of the biggest challenges our coaching staff discussed was those “what if” situations.

For example, it’s late in the game, we are up by 2 points and backed up in our own zone facing a 4th and long. To address situations like this, we had a contingency plan of bringing back what we called the “field goal punt,” which is a little known rule in HS that you can line up your FG unit and simply kick the ball as if you were kicking a 90 yard FG. Because this is a scrimmage kick it ends up like a punt and the return team can return the ball from wherever it lands (which in our plan was out of bounds). Doing this allowed us to still be all in on going for it on 4th while also giving us flexibility in certain situations. We also had our QB practice quick kicks once a week as another options to utilize in certain scenarios. When we presented our plan to not punt to the team on day one of fall camp, I allowed players to process this philosophy and push me with questions. After about 15 minutes of this discussion, players were excited and ready to go.

Here is a look at our complete “Philosophy” that all of our staff is agreed upon going into the season:

Torrey Football: 4th Down Philosophy and Guideline

Philosophy:

We are an aggressive 4th Down team.

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Combo Coverage 3-High Alignments

Combo Coverage 3-High Alignments

Posted by | Feb 9, 2020 | , , | 0 |

By Jeff Zerfas
Safeties Coach
Northside High School (GA)
Twitter: @zerfas_atc

 

 

With the use of 3-high safety defenses becoming more prevalent at the high school, collegiate and professional levels, many coaches have asked what kind of coverages they can run within this scheme. Our answer is to run a coverage that combined many facets of our other coverages into our 3-high covers. Combo coverage involves man and zone principles and is played with the Middle of the Field closed. Combo coverage is a coverage meant to be run on 1st or 2nd down that allows the maximum number of defenders playing the run and pass at the same time. The 3-3-5 is designed to be able to bring 3/4/5/6-man pressures and combo coverage lends itself to being able to be paired with any pressure package that you want to run. Combo coverage is unique that in its base call, all 5 secondary players align at 7 yards and it stresses the opposing QB to identify who is and is not in the box pre-snap.

Zerfas 021120

 

Base Structure/Alignment

Our base defensive structure is a 3-3-5 with a base alignment of 3 Safeties stacked over 3 Linebackers stacked over 3 DL. Our base defense strength is called to the field and we flip our 2 LBs and Safeties on each play. Our position names are F= Field Backer, B= Boundary Backer, W= Wide Safety, S= Short Safety, M= Mike, A= Adjuster. The Field Backer and Wide Safety always align to the field and the Boundary Backer and Short Safety always align to the boundary.

Diagram 1

 

Alignment of Secondary Players:

Combo Coverage can be called and played 3 different ways but the only alignment/technique that changes is the corners. The base call of Combo aligns the Corners and Safeties at 7 yards. The corners are playing “Loose Man” on #1 Wide and Short Safeties are playing “Seam” Technique on 2/3, the Adjuster is “Run Support/MOF”, and the Linebackers are playing “Hug” Technique on #3.

 

Bump Combo:

The first adjustment that can be made is to call “Bump Combo” and this changes the alignment of the corners and brings them from 7 yards off the line of scrimmage to 5. It also changes how they play man coverage.

Diagram 2

 

Press Combo:

The second adjustment we can make in Combo is “Press Combo”. This changes the alignment of the corners from 7 yards off LOS and brings them down to the LOS and they play in your face man to man coverage.

 

Techniques:

Corners: (Corners are 10 and 11 to the ball on run and have no responsibility to stop run)

Loose Man: Align 7 yards from LOS inside eye of #1 WR. On the snap of ball will take 3 backpedal read steps reading the release of the WR. If WR breaks at any point during 3 backpedal put foot in-ground and drive on break. If WR runs vertical, then collision inside the hip of WR and force them towards the sideline. The points of emphasis with the corners in loose man are to really work with them on getting good to backpedal steps that are not too short but are not too long. If the corner steps to close together on his backpedal, he will get to his third backpedal step before the WR has gotten to their route break. If the corner takes too long of a stride in his backpedal, he will be off-balance and will not be able to react quickly to quick game concepts.

Bump Man: Align 5 yards from LOS and head up on WR. On the snap of ball buzz feet and wait for the WR to come to you. Collision the WR at 5 yards and attempt to reroute him away from his intended route. In bump man, the corner is going to chop his feet on the snap and mirror the release of the WR. If the WR steps out the corner will side shuffle out, and if the WR steps in the corner will shuffle in, these do not have to be big shuffles the corner just needs to stay square and in front of the WR.

It is also important to work with the corner so that they do not try to put too much into their jams. Most high school corners think that they need to jam the WR hard to get a reroute and that is not what is needed in this instance. The corner forces the WR to reroute himself by simply not moving out of the way as the WR runs up the field.

Press Man: Align at LOS head up on WR. At the snap of the ball mirror release of WR and offhand jam him as he steps toward you. For the press man technique, the area that needs to be emphasized the most is that the corner does not try to be overly physical on the jam. Most corners will try to jam hard because that is what they think is important. We found that this puts the corner out of position for the rest of the route that the WR will run. We teach our corners in press man to “inch out”. This means that they will take small steps backward almost a back-ward shuffle and when the WR steps one direction the corner will then punch with the hand opposite of the step by the WR. This does not need to be a very hard punch, but it does need to be firm.

 

Safeties:

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Rotating Strong/Quick Side Offensive Line for Gap Schemes

Rotating Strong/Quick Side Offensive Line for Gap Schemes

Posted by | Feb 9, 2020 | , , , , , | 0 |

By Will Theobold
Offensive Line Coach/Offensive Coordinator
Park High School (MN)
Twitter: @CoachTheobold

 

 

My first season at Park High School we as a staff decided to install a gap scheme offense with a strong and quick side to accentuate our personnel, reduce teaching and techniques to those players executing them the most frequently.

 

Why?

The question from my head coach prompted this whole process: How can we maximize our OL’s talent and practice reps at the same time? As an offensive staff, it was decided that since we were implementing new blocking rules, going from zone blocking to gap scheme blocking, that we could help our players gain “extra reps” and truly use their strengths to our team’s advantage. As a Gap run scheme team our players only need to know a handful of different types of blocks to master and thus have a narrowing of their overall focus.

The reasoning for Strong/Quick side is so we can put our players in the best situation to be successful along with giving them as many practice reps as possible at their specific job. We were inspired by the idea of an assembly line. You have one worker specializing in a certain part of the overall product. They keep getting reps and over time they can become an expert at their one job in the overall process. We feel like if we can limit our player’s input of their job and technique, they can more easily master it and then execute better than the defense. Also, there are some Air Raid coaches who, similarly, never have their receivers switch sides to increase reps and reduce teaching.

 

Personnel

For our team, we considered going with the conventional OL play with specializing with a side (i.e. RG, RT) but ultimately decided to go with a Strong/Quick Sides. Here are some traits and characteristics we look for in our offensive line.

  • Strong Tackle: Great at Down blocks, great first step, big dude
  • Strong Guard: Bigger of two guards, needs to have great feet, needs to be nasty
  • Center: Needs to have size, cannot be pushed back, have consistent shotgun snaps
  • Quick Guard: Smaller of two guards, needs to have great feet, needs to be persistent to reach those log blocks, great football IQ as he will have to adjust on the fly to the strong guard’s block, “The adjuster”
  • Quick Tackle: Any size, needs to have great feet

 

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Using a Count System to ID Apex Reads in Pre-Snap Relief Throws

Using a Count System to ID Apex Reads in Pre-Snap Relief Throws

Posted by | Feb 9, 2020 | , , | 0 |

By Matthew Bishop
QB Coach
South Johnston High School (NC)

 

At South Johnston, we were primarily a run-first, power-based offense. Originally the head coach’s offense called for a sniffer/H-back to handle the defensive end and a WR to handle the extra man in the box. Due to base personnel, teams were able to put 8 defenders in or around the box or send an extra edge rusher. These two things forced the offense to adapt. In doing so, we progressed to handle the extra man and pressure by adapting the pin and pull system to an option-based system.

Originally: What gave us a lot of trouble as an offense was the inability to handle an extra defender in or near the box.

Diagram 1

 

Slot receivers were never our best blockers, nor should they be in the offense. To think that they would be able to dig out an alley defender to help us pick up another run threat, run great pass patterns, and catch passes was not something we believed slot receivers could do. If they were great run blockers, they wouldn’t be receivers.

In order to help get us an extra offensive threat and not another run blocking liability, we used Kirk Ciarrocca’s ideas from his time at Western Michigan.

The cornerback is counted as 1.

The alley defender, who was the next 2nd level pass defender inside the corner was going to count as a 1 or a .5. If this alley defender was outside, stacked, or partially covered the slot receiver in any way, he would be a 1. If the alley defender was inside the slot, such as aligning as an apex defender, he would be counted as .5.    This total would be added to the 1 from the cornerback. So, the Qb would have a count of 1,1.5 or 2, when talking about the defensive alignment to the first two detached threats.

Diagram 2

Diagram 3

Diagram 4

Diagram 5

Diagram 6

Diagram 7

 

The quarterback had to count the defense’s alignment to decide as to what we were going to run. The most quarterback they had to count to was 2. If the defense’s alignment was 1.5, he would throw the blaze to the slot receiver. If the count was 2 or more, he would run the play call. We were comfortable if the QB threw the blaze every time. Our reasoning was that if we could get out slot receiver the ball against a defender, he had leverage on, chances were we were going to have an efficient play. No matter what formation we came out in, the split receiver would block the cornerback and the slot receiver would run the blaze.

In my opinion, it’s far easier to begin using this concept with a right-handed quarterback if the receivers are on his left, and vice versa for a left-handed quarterback. The reason for this is that by having a right-handed quarterback throw the blaze route to his left, he doesn’t have to change his feet or flip his hips around. I had the quarterbacks, all right-handed, simply step laterally and throw down the line when throwing the blaze to the left. By doing this, it allowed the running back clear their throwing lane and allowed a quick release out the QB’s hands.

If the QB was throwing to his dominant side, he would stagger his step with his dominant foot behind his non-dominant. This would allow him to roll his hips over as he stepped across to throw. Again, the purpose of this was to speed up his release and not have him take an exorbitant number of steps.

This was not a run-pass option. If the quarterback liked the count before the snap, he would throw it. If he did not like the count, he would not throw it. The goal is to reduce as much of the guesswork for the quarterback as possible, especially for a high school QB who doesn’t spend hours upon hours watching the film for tendencies and practicing.

Can you tell the quarterback to be aggressive or conservative on his alley defender count? Of course, you can. In fact, I think you need to. The less indecision you give your QB, the better. Also, adjusting the aggressiveness of the QB can give you a quick in-game adjustment if the alley player is giving you trouble.

Regardless of the aggressiveness of the week, our QB could not be wrong running the power read play and not throwing the ball.

Can you add a single side WR pre-snap option? Again, yes, you can. I am not in favor of it. I think it adds one more layer of thinking for a high school QB.

 

Running the Ball:

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11 Personnel Empty SRO Package

11 Personnel Empty SRO Package

Posted by | Feb 8, 2020 | , , , , , , | 0 |

By Josh Barge
Assistant Coach
Red Mountain High School (AZ)
Twitter: @RMCoachBarge

 

  

The new craze in offensive football is to spread the defense out and chuck and duck the ball all over the field. Empty looks are a great formational edge, because it helps your coordinator and offensive players recognize defensive schemes much quicker. We are primarily an 11 Personnel program; our Empty package is 11 Personnel. Our Empty Package is a count-based package where three different schemes are being run at the same time, and our QB decides where we have a numbers advantage and that’s where the ball goes. Very seldom do we throw the ball past the line of scrimmage on this play, which leads to a very high conversion rate. We have been running this set for the last 7 years with a QB rating well over 150 and have yet to have a season with under 5 YPC.

 

Base Formation

Diagram 1

Diagram 2

 

Our Primary set is a boundary trips look with our X and H receivers to the field with our regular 2×2 field alignments. Our Y (TE) sets the trips set to the boundary side with our Z and RB flanking each side in a 1×1 alignment. We tend to run our plays out of this package as a one-word quicks. We are not changing out of our base personnel to run then. We can get lined up and run a play super-fast as the ball is being spot. This allows us to get lined up and either our coordinators or the QB can decipher were the ball needs to go with plenty of time to adjust as needed.

 

3-Man Spartan Screen

The boundary is running what we call our 3-man spartan screen. The Y (TE) has the key block we call our “ooze” block. It is essentially a down block in space, but it sets the crease for the Z receiver running our Spartan screen. He takes one step forward and then shuffles back one step and catches the ball. He needs to get up the field, make at least the first guy miss and get at least five yards. The running back has what we call the “kick or carry” block. He will take a flat angle with an aiming point of one yard in front of the receiver getting the ball. He has the corner. If he comes downhill quickly, kick him out. If he stays at depth, make the turn and carry block his declared angle.

Our field side is just running our 2-man bubble concept. The X is blocking first force. If everything is equal, we ask him to block the corner with slight outside leverage and stay square. But his initial track will always take him into the ally player. Find the guy that has the best chance of making the tackle and block him. Our H is always our speedster. He will cheat his alignment back a half a yard. Bucket step, cross over gaining depth and width. The quarterback, who is in the gun, will turn his shoulders on the first two steps. If he is under center, his shoulders must stay square to line of scrimmage. Catch the ball and get it to the edge. If the ball hits the ground, treat it as a live ball. Get on it!

Our line really has a week-to-week run set, teams that get upfield with their ends, we will block it as a draw. Teams that hang around and 2 gap everything, well block inside zone steps to the 3 tech. Teams with inside big men that wreck shop, we trap them to slow them down a bit. This can also be transformed into any scheme that fits your program the best.

Here is what the play looks like against some the of most common defensive schemes we see.

Diagram 3

 

Coordinator/QB’s Rules

Because this is a pre- or post-snap SRO, the quarterback or the coordinator has the final say on which concept (screen or QB run) to use. Not surprisingly, it’s all about numbers. In any five-man box, the QB/coordinator can activate any of the runs in our menu that week, including zone, trap, draw or pin and pull. In any six-man box, the screen game should be activated because of the numbers advantage. 

 

Essentials in Making Concept Efficient:

Surprisingly, you don’t need a dual threat QB to run this package, we have run it with pocket-passer and scrambling/wildcat style QBs and have had great success with both. Depending on your QB’s football IQ, these plays might need to be run as “Check-With-Me’s.” Have the eye in the sky (coach in the box) decipher the defensive look and signal in to the QB the best option. As he gets better at seeing it himself, start adding more responsibility on him. When teams start playing games with their alley defenders, the QB can make or break this play. Have them get their eyes on the alley defender and read his movements.

The biggest coaching point is regardless of which screen or run play gets utilized, it’s important that everyone still does their job. If the QB gets a run read, the wide receivers need to still run their screen full speed. The QB knows that there isn’t a guy blocking the second level perimeter players for his run. Teach your receivers to embrace blocking, their blocking ability makes this play work. “Return-the-favor” block for your buddy and everyone gets stats. This is a toughness play, we are going to out physical our opponent in this finesse set. Catch the ball and get to your landmarks as fast as possible and win your individual battle.

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“Expand to Build” Teaching Progression for Play Side OL in Wide Zones

“Expand to Build” Teaching Progression for Play Side OL in Wide Zones

Posted by | Feb 1, 2020 | , , | 0 |

By Shawn Byrnes
Offensive Line Coach
Ottawa University (AZ)
Twitter: @fbcoachbyrnes

 

Wide Zone blocking can be employed in a variety of different ways. Here at Ottawa University – Arizona (OUAZ), we determine our lateral vs horizontal displacement of defenders depending on their alignments, structure of the defense, and where we would like to create the running lanes. We teach our Offensive Line, Fullbacks, and Tight Ends that we need to “Expand and Build.” We define that by expanding the front-side running lanes and building a backside wall to prevent the backside collapse. We believe these concepts can put your offensive line and running game in a great position to be successful.

The coaching points for the Offensive Line and Tight Ends are identical when it comes to our front-side zone blocking. We use multiple techniques when it comes to our blocking assignments and teach them across the board from Center to Tight End. In our front-side blocking system, the coaching points we emphasize are body landmarks of the defenders, footwork techniques to get you to those landmarks, and your helmet/body placement once you fit the defenders. We blend or combine a bunch of techniques from week-to-week.

Body Landmarks of the Defenders

We use two landmarks when talking about attacking the body of a defender. We use our outside armpit landmark and our helmet landmark. We practice attacking these landmarks every day in pre-practice and individual in our combination pod work. We work different DL shades, linebacker alignment and style of play i.e. slanting/read defenders, scraping or downhill LB play, etc. These practice clips below show you how we practice and execute our landmarks for the covered/uncovered lineman.

Covered Lineman: Outside Armpit Landmark

Regardless if you are in a solo assignment or you are the covered linemen in a combination assignment, we teach our blockers to aim their helmets to the outside armpit of the defender.

To study game film of this concept, click on the video below:

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Multiple Coverage and Pressure Distribution to Defend 3×1 Formations

Multiple Coverage and Pressure Distribution to Defend 3×1 Formations

Posted by | Feb 1, 2020 | , , | 0 |

By Steve Erxleben
Defensive Coordinator
South River High School (MD)
Twitter: @CoachErxleben

 

In today’s modern challenge of defending offenses that feature multiple formations made up of multiple personnel groupings with multiple forms of tempo, defensive schemes have to be sophisticated enough to challenge the run, pass, and protection schemes while also be simple enough to allow players to play fast. As a defensive staff here at South River High School, we decided years ago to transition from more of a base front and coverage team to a scheme rooted in zone pressure and match-carry-deliver principles on the backend.

This past season in 2019, out of 666 plays in 11 games, we zone pressured 72.8% of the time in multiple down and distance, personnel, and +/- situations out of multiple fronts, pre-snap movements, and coverages. Of those 666 plays, 172 were 10 personnel 3×1 with 121 of those plays being passes. As a defense vs 3×1, we had a 41% completion rate (50 of 121) and registered 17 of our 47 sacks as a defense.

Within our culture defensively and as a staff, we believe with the personnel we have and the style offenses within our league, hanging our hat on zone pressure allows our scheme to be balanced, have specific force and alley rules, has a reduced amount of checks, is highly adjustable, and allows us to prevent explosive plays, all allowing our players to play fast. 

Over the past few seasons teams, especially in passing situations, have used 3×1 formations to out-leverage, out-formation, and establish situations where we have a conflict defender in an RPO read to attempt to get us to abort our pressure patterns and play a max coverage. To combat this, we have had to make some adjustments and checks to how we come after 3×1 formations without losing our pressure identity, especially in passing situations.

When defending a shotgun offense, the initial question most coaching staffs have is will they set the front or in some cases bring pressure to or away from the back. The same can be said for trips in that a decision has to be made in a “blitz the formation” situation, will you blitz trips or bring pressure away? Our philosophy is to major in both pressures to and away from trips without losing our ability to send 5 in the blitz pattern.

3×1 Thought Process:

Before deciding on what pressure schemes and 3×1 adjustments from a coverage aspect best fit what an opponent is running out of 3×1, it is important to consider some of the following items. Obviously, all of these are basics when scouting an opponent and there are probably others dependent upon the opponent but for the sake of argument, it does have an impact on the eventual schemes run versus any opponent:

What personnel grouping is making up 3×1 (10, 11, 12, etc.)?

For this article, we will focus on more of a traditional 3×1 made up of 10 personnel but it is warranted to address TE trips, Trips bunch, Trips Inverted (Trio) and if in some sort of 20 personnel grouping is the H back close enough in either a wing or sniffer situation to be considered truly #3

What is the alignment of the Back?

When we look at 3×1 or any formation where the RB is in the shotgun our terminology has always been if the RB is to the side of trips making him #4 strong we have coded that as a ”Near” formation, so, for example, we would label the below formations “Trips Gun Near” (DIAGRAM 1).

DIAGRAM 1

Diagram 1

 

If the Back were to be away from trips and be #2 weak, we would refer to that formation as “Far”.  (DIAGRAM 2)

DIAGRAM 2

Diagram 2

 

Also, from a run and pass protection perspective, the depth of the back, whether even, aligned 1×1, aligned wide and in front or any other alignments can be a pre-snap tell of pocket movement, play-action, or protection aspects. In both Diagrams 3 and 4, the RB is in what we call an “UP” alignment, which usually is a pre-snap tendency for either outside zone, power read or some sort of RPO or play-action off either run action.

DIAGRAM 3

Diagram 3

 

DIAGRAM 4

Diagram 4

 

1) Is the Formation Open or closed on the backside and if it is open, what is the spacing of #1 weak when in the MOF?

Obviously, if #1 is attached and is the EMOL, dependent upon where the ball is either hash, MOF or if there is a Formation into the boundary situation and #1 weak is to the field, most defenses would feel comfortable playing some sort of man principle on the backside and flooding the trips side with a 5 over 3 or 4 over 3 situation. Another thing to consider is the width of #1 if he detached. We have a divider rule using the numbers in our regular Rip/Liz match concept against a 2×2 formation with regards to leverage and apply that rule to the split of #1 weak. Also, who #1 is (is he their best 1 on 1 receiver, etc.) can factor into this as well.

2) What is the split of #2 and #3 and their relationship to #1?

In 3×1 #1 strong usually, by a general tendency we have found, gets the ball the least due to the distance away from the QB so the split of #2 and #3 in terms of inside, outside, or vertical routes they may be running can have an effect on where pressure is coming from due to how long the QB is designed to hold the ball in terms of quick game, 5 step, screen, RPO, play-action, etc.

In general, after opponent film study and evaluation of defensive personnel, it can be determined, with some of the information from above, what pressures and coverages will be run when blitzing INTO trips and what pressures and coverages will be run when blitzing AWAY FROM trips.     

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“Duo” Philosophy in the Inside Zone Concept

“Duo” Philosophy in the Inside Zone Concept

Posted by | Feb 1, 2020 | , , , | 0 |

By Adam Hovorka
Managing Editor
X&O Labs
Twitter: @XOLabs_Editor

 

Note: In addition to his duties as Managing Editor of X&O Labs, Adam Hovorka also serves as an assistant coach at Plainedge High School (NY). Plainedge High School won the 2019 NY state championship.

We are a spread football team that wants to run the football teams using multiple formations and personnel groups.  We will read almost everything in the run game and the inside zone is the foundation of our offense.  Our inside zone allows us to attack the defense between the tackles, in the C gap and on the numbers.  We feel this play gives us the ability to get our playmakers the ball in space.  We also feel it is a play that will be effective vs both three man and four man front structured defenses.  The play also allows us to be very multiple yet very simple.  We have different tags that will change things for certain individuals and build our offense but keep things the same for the offensive line. 

Our inside zone is a little different than typical zone read.  First, our offensive line is looking for double teams and vertical push at the point of attack.  Our offensive linemen are not all stepping the same direction but rather looking for double teams and movement. Some coaches refer to this concept as “Duo,” or two double team opportunities at the line of scrimmage.

Most inside zone teams have their offensive line all step the same direction as the play.  If the play is IZ right the entire offensive line would step right and try to get horizontal movement.  On our zone right our offensive line is looking format least two double teams vs a 4man front.   The backside Tackle and Guard will be stepping toward the three tech tackle and the center and play side guard will both be stepping toward the one tech.  In both cases the lineman want vertical push staying on the combination block until the backer commits.  

Coaching Points:

  • Your Offensive Line has to work combination blocks every day! We want movement on that first level and tell our guys to stay on that first level until the LB starts coming downhill.

  • Coaching the quarterback and running back in a live read period every day is another must. Coaches, you should start as the defensive player being read so you can see the quarterback’s eyes and makes sure he is looking where you want him to be looking.  As you add the triple part of the play, the read needs have a ball in his hand as the read.  On any give read, you as the read player flip the ball to the qb so he can carry out the next phase of the play. 

  • We don’t over complicate the mesh portion of the read. We tell the QB he is responsible for the decisions.  When we have a QB who we want with the ball, we tell him if the read would tackle him then pull the ball.  Years when our back is the guy we want with the ball; we tell the qb to give unless the read is going to tackle the back.   

  • Centers have to be part of the mesh period and work in pre-practice on snaps and timing.

  • Coaches you must give the qb tough some fast reads for teams that blitz off the edge.

  • We would never use all these variations in a given game or maybe in a given season. Match-up what you have personnel wise to what your quarterback can handle mentally.   

 

Our aiming point for the back is the play-side hip of the center. 

Diagram 1

Diagram 1B

Our back is told to bang it in up there or cut back behind the player who was the initial read.  We call that bending it back and feel this where we have the best success with the play.

Diagram 2

Our mindset with this play is more old-school inside veer getting downhill right away.  Our back, whether he is in pistol or aligned on the side, will have his shoulders square to the LOS and be ready to attack downhill right now.  We feel this quickness of the downhill action makes the read easier for the QB because the defensive end has to declare what he is doing right away.

Our first variation for our inside zone is attaching the option after the QB’s initial give or pull read.  We can do this from a two-back formation or have the slot be the pitch with an easy motion.

Diagram 3

Diagram 4

We do this as a way to force defenses to play sound assignment football.  This enables us to have an opportunity to get our playmakers the ball in space. We also like the idea of having our slot WR’s not always having to block the outside backer types.  Now, instead of blocking them we can pitch off that backer and always make him wrong. 

Our next variation has become a staple of our offense and has created many big plays for us.  Instead of having a pitch player we can just tag a bubble as the third option instead of pitch.

Diagram 5

It is also a pre-snap read for the QB and receiver running the bubble.  This forces teams to play a little closer on our slots thus creating some more room for the QB on pull reads. We like this variation as it now forces teams to defend the entire width of the football field and one missed tackle can be a big play. Coaches, in our bubble we have the slot backpedal and show his chest to the quarterback.  We just feel this is a much easier throw for the QB to make while he is one the move and often has a defender in his face. 

There will be times when we just want to give the ball and eliminate the read part of the play.  Here we just have an H-back or TE type line up in an H-Back position and come across the formation and block the read.

Diagram 6

This is your

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11/20 Personnel Unbalanced Gap Schemes

11/20 Personnel Unbalanced Gap Schemes

Posted by | Jan 31, 2020 | , , , , | 0 |

By Scott Girolmo
Head Football Coach
Battlefield High School (VA)
Twitter: @CoachSGirolmo

 

 

It is so fun for me to share this simple scheme with all the readers of X and O labs. I want to be sure to credit two coaches who were instrumental in helping to teach me small parts of using an unbalanced 5-man surface. The first is Thad Wells, and the second is Terry Hessbrook. I stole from both, and I am very grateful for their willingness to talk ball with me. They are brilliant coaches.

 

The Unbalanced 5-Man Surface

Born from a creative necessity, the use of the unbalanced 5-man surface can help to maximize the stronger personnel within your offensive line unit and help to protect the weaker personnel by putting them in easier blocking scenarios. This was one the initial draws for me, and I believe that it can be a weapon within what you already do in your 20/11 personnel offense with minimal disruption to your operating system.

Diagram 1

Diagram 2

 

I like to label this front differently than our normal balanced 5-man surface. The position breakdowns are as follows.

Diagram 3

 

The Quick Tackle – This is the short-side offensive lineman, and the place where I would put my best lineman. His alignment can be with a wider split if he can play in space. In our offense I like this player to be our quickest guy off the ball, because he will often be required to post a gap combo block and work his way off to the I.D. who is a quicker Linebacker scraping. In addition, some of our change-up plays require him to pull to the strong side, and a nimble-footed player allows us to run power back to the strength.

The Center – One of the advantages to using this front is that against ODD defenses it can often uncover him and allow him to block back and zone up. Admittedly this was one of my early attractions, as the “TITE” front and “OKIE” defenses with physical Nose Tackles were giving our weaker center’s a hard time.

The Inside Guard. – The inside guard plays to the strong side of the front, and can be a slower, less skilled lineman. He is protected heavily on both sides, and we find that against most defenses he spends his time blocking back. This is the first place you can hide a player who is not very good but must play out of necessity as you haven’t got many linemen, or he is the biggest of the bunch.

The Strong Guard – The Strong guard is the next best offensive lineman to the Quick Tackle for us. That is simply because we like to have him actively pulling in this scheme. We want a guy who can skip pull and navigate the surface to insert and get his hands on the play side inside linebacker. In addition, we like him to be able to identify when our strong tackle needs to cut because there are interior defenders threatening.

The Strong Tackle – The strong tackle position is the ultimate hiding spot. He is so far away from the ball that you can basically put anyone there. We have been best with this scheme when we have had a small, nimble guy who was great with the gap-hinge technique and could reach-cut off when we saw junk-fronts.

 

Unbalanced Surface in the Spread Power Offense

Incorporating the unbalanced surface in our spread power offense provided several awesome advantages that helped our already versatile 20/11 personnel run game. Due to the alignments of most defenses, and the likely adjustment to declare a new center, we can often get better angles for our A-Gap Power run game. Along those lines, one of the byproducts that I like personally as a coordinator is that the play hits so vertically because the mesh point is along the QBs mid-line. We vary the backfield sets quite a bit, but our favorite action to create is the running back crossing the face of the quarterback. The cross-face mesh influences the eyes of the linebackers and helps us to hold the ID in place for a count, so we can establish the point of attack combo and get our quick tackle off in time to seal him back side. To manipulate the front-side defenders, this short-edge is easier to sprint out to, provides a quick read for speed option and mid-line, and creates a better visual cone for the QB in our second and third level run pass options.

Below you will find the excerpt from our playbook describing our weak-power scheme and the base run in this offensive front.

Diagram 4

 

  1. OLINE
    1. Quick Tackle –
      • Rules: Block man on, down, to ID Linebacker
      • Coaching Points: Listen for ID from Center / snapper. Eyes up, hips down, hands tight
    2. Center –
      • Rules: ID first Linebacker Back Side of the Mid-Line. Block man on, drive the combo. +1 Technique, work Zone Combo, -1 Technique, work Gap Combo.
      • Coaching Points: Alert if there are 3+ in the cone. Eyes up for A-Gap. “DOWN” any Cross-Dogs. Vs. Zero call for Play-side Fresno and Base Drive PS V-of the Neck.
    3. Inside Guard –
      • Rules: Block Man on, or Block Back if Uncovered.
      • Coaching Points: Listen for Center ID – Protect BS A-Gap First! 2 Tech – Call for a Fresno
    4. Strong Guard –

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20/30 Personnel Wide Zone Package via William and Mary’s “Go-Go” Formation

20/30 Personnel Wide Zone Package via William and Mary’s “Go-Go” Formation

Posted by | Jan 26, 2020 | , , | 0 |

By Adam Hovorka
Managing Editor
X&O Labs

 

Coach Marion has been using the Go-Go offense for the last 8 years with a ton of success.  First at HS, then Howard University and now William & Mary with great results. The offense is predicated on, tempo, spacing, big plays, a multitude of formations, motions, personnel groupings, and triple-option principles.  Coach Marion says he wants the defense to cover multiple plays on every play.  Coach says he watched the old Navy films with Roger Staubach films and started thinking if he can attach reads to every single run game this would be difficult to defend. So, he began figuring out how to make every run in the offense a triple-option concept.  Coach says that his offense is triple option football and everything in the run game is dictated by two-or three-man surfaces.  Any two-man surface they see will be a triple-option run with the QB knowing whom his pitch key is based on the call. 

Coach Marion says he will have at least two options on every run play and sometimes there as many as four options on any given play.  One of the new ideas that Coach Marion is employing is the use of 20 personnel formations with both backs to the same side of the quarterback. Coach Marion, says he favors this alignment, “because it creates a three-headed monster in the backfield, without losing anything in the passing game. You know are dictating to the defense when you have three eligible guys that can touch the ball at any given time and you still have to cover the WR’s and TE on the outside”   There is no difference in the two backs that play those two spots, they both are asked to do what they need to do in any play in the offense.  It is important to know that both backs are threats to run and catch the ball on any play

Diagram 1

Diagram 2

There is a myriad of ways Coach Marion will build his two back formations:  Pro with a TE and WR to one side opposite a solo WR. Twins, with two WR’s to one side opposite an On the Line TE, slot, with two WR’s to one side and a solo WR opposite.  The splits of the WR’s will also be constantly changed to take advantage of angles and certain play calls.

Just like any other spread offense the backs can be moved all over the formation based on the play.  Coach Marion uses the term “performance alignment” to explain where the backs will align.  Coach stresses that the backs will know their alignment based on the play call.  Another popular alignment is both backs in an I to one side of the Quarterback, with the depth changing based on the play call. 

Diagram 3

Diagram 4

The Backs will also align with one back in Pistol behind the QB and another even with the QB to the right or left. 

Diagram 5

Diagram 6

Coach Marion will also utilize some 30 personnel formations.

Diagram 7

Here you can see the deep back in pistol and two up backs behind the tackles but turning their bodies perpendicular to the line of scrimmage.  Coach Marion likes this formation to give defensive players false keys and mess around with their eyes when those guys start going across the formation.  Another popular formation will be the use of two split backs on both sides of the QB and using an off Y as a sniffer back. 

Diagram 8

The offense is also very series-oriented meaning; there is the base play that sets up the rest of the plays in the series.  Coach Marion will have his base play, multiple tags for the third phase of the option, a reverse with the option to pass the ball, a Play Action Pass with various routes structures, and screens with all the same actions. We will look at the outside zone/stretch series first.

Wide Zone

One of the base plays that William & Mary runs is the Wide Zone.  This play sets up one of their most successful series. The blocking is like how most other teams run Wide Zone.  The Play side Tackle is trying to reach that EMLOS and if he cannot then the tackle will just drive him out.  The other OL are working in unison, stepping laterally to the play side, doubling the covered men and working up to the second level.  The back getting the ball is taught that this is 1-2 read.  The back is reading the first down lineman to the second and will insert where those reads tell him to insert.  The RB must know that this a one-cut run. This will always be at least a double option with the QB reading the backside end on the play.  For the sake of all the descriptions, the back closer to the QB is the RB and the back on the other side of the RB is the F.  Coach Marion will have the F lead for the QB on a pull read opposite the wide zone and block the force play opposite the Wide Zone.  This forces the defense to defend the entire width of the play. 

Diagram 9

Triple Option

Coach Marion will attach a route to the back not running the Wide Zone to make the play a true triple-option The QB and RB will execute their normal Wide Zone read and, on a pull, the QB is reading the force defender for the third phase of the play.  The F, back further away from the QB, will run at the DE and delay a second and run the route called, usually an arrow route or option route stretching the defense.  The running back running a route will act as the “pitch” phase of a triple-option.  The QB will have the ability to throw the route or run the ball if the backer/safety being read is aggressively playing the pass route.  Coach Marion will also have the slot run the bubble as the third phase of the option and have the F lead on the edge giving the QB a lead on the pull phase of the read.

Diagram 10

Diagram 11

Play Action Pass

Just like any option offense, the opportunity to run play-action passes will present itself once the defense must commit secondary pl

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The 52-40-8 Dogma of UST Football Culture: How to Attain Accountability and Balance in All Three Phases

The 52-40-8 Dogma of UST Football Culture: How to Attain Accountability and Balance in All Three Phases

Posted by | Jan 26, 2020 | | 0 |

By Mike Kuchar
with Glenn Caruso
Head Football Coach
University of St. Thomas (MN)

 

As one of the top Division 3 football programs in the country, the University of St. Thomas (MN) continually finds itself at the top of nearly every statistical category on all three phases of the game. Consider the following statistics over the last three seasons, which are all national rankings:

 

2019

  • #6 in scoring offense (47.9 ppg)
  • #12 in scoring defense (14.7 ppg)

 

2018

  • #3 in scoring offense (48.3 ppg)
  • #6 in scoring defense (10.2 ppg)

 

2017

  • #4 in scoring offense (47.2 ppg)
  • #5 in scoring defense (11.2 ppg)

 

2016

  • #2 in scoring offense (47.1 ppg)
  • #3 in scoring defense (12.3 ppg)
  • #4 in blocked punts (4)

 

2015

  • #2 in scoring offense (51.3 ppg)
  • #9 in scoring defense (12.5 ppg)
  • #4 in blocked punts (4)

 

 

This synergy doesn’t happen naturally. It’s the result of a mission created by Coach Caruso and his staff that has continually been cultivated over the last twelve seasons since he’s been the head coach there. The results have been astronomical. In those twelve seasons, the Tommie’s have compiled a 126-21 record (.857 win %), including a 72-12 record in MIAC play. It’s a win percentage that has only been eclipsed by other divisional powerhouses like North Dakota State and the University of Alabama. They have been mainstays in the NCAA Division 3 playoff landscape making eight appearances, including two Stagg Bowl trips during that time.

The culture that Coach Caruso has established in St. Paul is built upon accountability and responsibility. After all, we should know. We spent a couple days there in the spring of 2017 and the synergy is palpable. It’s rare to find a player late for a meeting and even more rare to find a pair of eyes not centered on Coach Caruso’s sub 6-foot framework as directs his team meetings, which often center on what he calls “common sense” frameworks that can apply to either side of the ball (more on that below).

We wanted to talk to Coach Caruso on balance and equities with all three phrases of the ball. We should mention that he’s strictly the overseer of these disciplines- he’s delegated offense to offensive coordinator Bruce Carpenter while defensive coordinator Wallie Kuchinski has been with him since he took the job in 2008. It’s clear he’s made the right hires, as each of these individuals have fostered that responsibility to their units. According to Coach Caruso, it’s a responsibility that can often be ignored particularly if a prominent offensive coordinator all of a sudden becomes entrusted with head coaching duties- as he had. “If you are a head coach with an offensive coordinator background it is important to recognize that you have a greater responsibility to your defense,” he told us. “You have to find a way to defend a lesser number of plays than you do with your offense finding way to score points.” For example, in 2017, the University of St. Thomas averaged 72 plays per game on offense, but only had to defend 53 on defense that season. “But the difficulty is that when someone gets there as a previous offensive coordinator they’ve gotten the job because of their success as a coordinator. Their main job was to score points, now the main job has shifted into making sure your offense fits what you’re asking out of your defense.  You realize the importance of field position. And you know part of the liability and responsibility of how many times your special teams’ units and defense are on the field directly correlates to the way and style of what you run on offense.”

That all sounds great, but like most good coaches Coach Caruso meticulously worked a process to get to that result and he revealed that process to us. It’s a plan that is segmented around three main components:

  • Staff Buy-In
  • Player Buy-In
  • Practice and Game Management

 

Cultivating Staff Buy-In

 

Hiring Coaches

It starts with the hiring the right people or as author Jim Collins wrote in “Good to Great,” getting the right people on the bus. So, before Coach Caruso makes his hires he outlines the parameters he wants to govern his program, with the installation method of systems and how he positions personnel placement at the forefront. 

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Pairing Cover 0 Pressures with Stick Coverage to Win 3rd Down

Pairing Cover 0 Pressures with Stick Coverage to Win 3rd Down

Posted by | Jan 25, 2020 | , , , , | 0 |

By Pete DeWeese (X&O Labs)
Featuring Mike Fox
Defensive Coordinator
College of Brockport (NY)
Twitter: @coachmfox1

 

   

After back-to-back seasons of finishing 5-5, College of Brockport Head Coach Jason Mangone needed to improve his staff.  In 2016 he brought Mike Fox to coordinate the Golden Eagle Defense.  After eight seasons as the DC at St. John Fisher College, Coach Fox came to Brockport with an aggressive style that would change the way that Brockport played defense.  In his first season as the defensive coordinator, Coach Fox and the Brockport defense ranked 3rd in the nation with six defensive touchdowns while averaging over two sacks a game. The 2017 season proved to be the best in program history, with the Golden Eagles going 13-1 behind a strong offense and great defense.  In 2018, Coach Fox’s third season in Brockport, the Golden Eagle defense relied on pressure to post some of the best numbers in Division 3 football.  Coach Fox’s defense led the nation in rushing defense (6.8 yards per game), 3rd Down Defense (15% success rate), and 4th Down Defense (14% success rate) while finishing in the top 5 statistically in Total Defense, Red Zone Efficiency, Pass Efficiency Defense, Sacks, and Interceptions.

Coach Fox and his defensive staff believe in an attacking style.  To borrow from the University of Michigan Defensive Coordinator Don Brown, Coach Fox says that at the College of Brockport, they like to “solve their problems with aggression.”  Coach Fox and his staff place an emphasis on winning 1st down.  Their players understand that winning 1st down will often lead to a 3rd down situation that favors the defense.  Coach Fox says, “Any situation that I can be more and more aggressive I am going to try and take advantage of it.  I try as much as possible to deflate an offense, deflate their quarterback, and deflate their team as much as I can mentally.  That is a great way to do it.  If it is 3rd & long and we sack them for another 8-10 yards, or another five yards, that is not as much field position, but it is more mentally taxing on an offensive coordinator and an offensive player.”  While Coach Fox is aggressive in most situations, he loves to attack in 3rd & Long situations and often find himself relying on their “Sticks/Pressure” package to get the defense off of the field. For the season, the College of Brockport relied on this package for 52% of their 3rd & long snaps.  By the end of the season Coach Fox estimates that this package constituted as high as 80% of his 3rd & Long calls. 

While many coaches seem more comfortable sending 5 & 6 man pressures on mid to short yardage situations, Coach Fox thinks otherwise: “In third & long situations, especially 10 plus, a lot of guys will think ‘hey, let’s play some max coverage. Let’s rush three and keep everything in front of us’ but I feel like you get the same thing out of your sticks package.  You keep everything in front of you, but you only give the quarterback a second and a half, to no more than two seconds, to get the ball off.  So, if he is forced to throw a ball that is not going to be caught at the sticks, then as long as we can do a good job of coming up and tacking, and as long as we have good vision on the quarterback when he throws the ball, we can come up and make the stop.”

 

Understanding the Sticks Package:

Coach Fox and his defensive staff employ several different pressures and can pair those pressures with a myriad of coverages.  Their “Sticks” package consists of a number of pressures paired with their “Sticks” coverage.  This particular coverage concept blends zone & man principles.  Unlike traditional man-to-man concepts where the defender is going to key the receiver that he is assigned, the College of Brockport’s “Sticks” coverage looks and reacts like a catch-man technique, but the alignment and footwork (combined with the attached pressure) allows the defensive back to play with zone eyes and drive routes when the ball is thrown.  

Unlike fire zone pressures, the sticks coverage concept doesn’t rely on defender’s that are moving on the snap to jump underneath routes or put a soft top on the defense.  Instead, this coverage principle allows defensive backs to protect themselves with a cushion and still match the route as it declares.  So, what separates this concept from traditional catch-man?  For starters, the aforementioned eye placement for the DB is different than most man-to-man principles.  The concept also tends to be less risky for the defense as Coach Fox points out, “So our eyes are on quarterback and then we are going to transition our eyes to the receiver once we see the shoulder and the ball being thrown.  It can be a tough thing to do, but the good thing about it is it’s almost like a zone-man concept where we get three to four guys running to the football.  This way if we do happen to miss a tackle and we are in cover zero it’s not going to be a 60, 70, 80 yards gain.  Where if you are playing straight man press it would be that case so it’s a little safer in my opinion.”

 

Teaching Sticks Coverage:

Coach Fox and his staff do a good job of scaffolding their teaching and building on the concepts that they already have in place.  Teaching this coverage is no different.  From a technique standpoint, players are told: “Eyes on the QB first.  Any time that we are teaching any zone concept we teach eyes on the QB first.  So, if every one of our guys are going to get a 3 step or 5 step read.  We work that quite a bit.  So that is really what they are looking for.  We tell those guys that you’ve got a second and a half.  Find out where his intentions are first, because he’s never coming to his second read.  Once we see that, like if his shoulders are pointed away from me, that is now my responsibility and I am going to the football.”

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Six-Man Pressures Combined with 2-Under, 3 Deep Coverage

Six-Man Pressures Combined with 2-Under, 3 Deep Coverage

Posted by | Jan 19, 2020 | , , | 0 |

By Mike McElroy (with Adam Hovorka)
Defensive Coordinator
Bethel University (MN)
Twitter: @McElroy26
(Special Reporting by Cory Bailey)

 

 

Bethel University and defensive coordinator Mike McElroy utilize primarily a one-high defense that bases in Cover 3 and variations of Man-Free.  To compete in the ultra-competitive MIAC, Coach felt he needed a pressure package that would enable them to be aggressive in having the ability to send six but not live and die playing straight man coverage without deep middle help.   Coach McElroy felt the best way to be able to bring six but be safe in coverage is to play 2-under, 3-deep coverage.  Bethel will employ this mostly of out of dime personnel with some more speed on the field upfront. 

Bethel is a Man Free / Cover 3 team.? Defensively, everything they do is disguised out of a Cover 1 look.? This 3 under/ 2 deep look is a great compliment to cover 1/3.? Before the snap, the objective is to make it look the same.? It’s a pressure package that is also ideal against the run.  Bethel also likes to run this in the red zone (the coverage adjusts slightly), or end of the half – end of the game (coverage adjusts as well).? They can call it based on back alignment, passing strength, boundary or field.? It is tagged as such.? For Bethel, it was mostly used as a field/boundary tag.? By doing it this way, Coach McElroy, says it allows his guys to avoid confusion caused by trade, motion, back flip or pistol vs. under center. Coach believes in calling it and playing it so his guys can play fast and nasty.   Coach McElroy says, “Call it and Play it”.   Remember, that this will only be called with certain offensive personnel groups and in certain down and distances; therefore, Coach McElroy is confident in his call.  

There are three base pressure looks that Coach McElroy likes to employ out of this package.  We will look at the coverage first and then go over the Pressures.  

 

Coverage Techniques

The coverage behind the six-man pressure is 2-under and 3-Deep.  Remember that this will be from the disguise of Cover 1.  The Corners will be responsible for the deep 1/3, the Fs will have deep middle and the Q/S will be the two underneath players.   The coverage will not be great against the quick game to the flat.  That is the reason Coach will only call this in longer passing down situations.

 

Corners

The coverage behind the six-man pressure is 2-under and 3-Deep.  Remember that this will be from the disguise of Cover 1.  Corners will align over the #1 receiver and give the illusion of playing press man. Ultimately, they will bail on snap and be responsible for the deep 1/3.  This coverage wants you to throw it to the deep 1/3 to the field.   Corners will be over the top of every possible route, always giving up the hitch or quick out route. If there are two verticals from a detached two receivers, the corner will play his base Cover 3 divider rules that is taught Day I of the defensive install.  Coach McElroy uses the term “two speeds’, meaning two fast guys if there are two fast guys to your side the corner will sprint to his divider rules.  The corners are taught they have any vertical of 1 and 2 and will sprint to anything else.   If there is a trips formation the Corner will be locked man on the single side Wr and is taught to squeeze the WR.

 

Underneath Defenders (Q/S)

The two underneath players are the Q, the downfield Strong Safety player, and the weak safety called the S.  The two underneath players are taught to align inside of a detached #2 and have “Vision on the QB”.  These players are taught to read the “mesh key.”  Coach McElroy uses the location of the ball as the run/pass indicator.  If the ball is in the running back’s gut, they will bounce bounce waiting to see if they are needed in the run fit.  On the snap of the football, the Q and S are “bouncing”.  They will bounce in the spot they are aligned until they have their movement indicator.  On a pass read, they are expected to turn and run to the Quarterback’s front shoulder. Coach tells his guys they should be sprinting 8-10 yards on any pass not directly at them.   If #2 is a TE then the Q/S will align outside of him and still play his vision rules trying to get in the window for a quick out-breaking route.    

If the offense comes out in trips, the trips side underneath player will split the difference between #1 and #2 and play his base rules of seeing the QB and breaking on the shoulder. Coach teaches his guys to react to the splits of all the receivers and react accordingly.  A key coaching point that Coach McElroy tells his guys is that if the QB is looking at you then he is throwing outside of you.  This tells the overhangs to get the width.

Trips away from you will look to get more middle of the field and take away the deep shot to #3 from the opposite side of the formation.  Coach tells these players they are leverage of two players, and if there is no #2 to your side then get to three right ways.  This is very similar to 425 terminology in special.  

 

Free Safety:

The Free Safety (FS) is the Post player and must take away the post.  Coach McElroy teaches the FS to scoot on the snap of the ball.  They will take three shuffle steps making sure the ball is cleared out of the mesh point and then he will get ready to play the pass.  The FS will play at a depth of 12 yards and will lean toward the field with his hips open to the QB so he can shuffle.

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Integrating Relief Throw RPOs into the Flexbone System

Integrating Relief Throw RPOs into the Flexbone System

Posted by | Jan 19, 2020 | , , | 0 |

By Scott Dieterich
Offensive Assistant Coach
Zachary High School (LA)
Twitter: @deterball

 

 

As a long-time flex bone offensive coach, there are a few things I need to begin this report with to help the reader understand the “why” and not just the “what” of this article. Just as there are many different varieties of the modern spread offense, the same can be said for today’s modern flex bone offenses. It’s safe to say that most flex bone offenses are similarly deeply rooted in a few core plays (i.e. triple option and midline options etc.), but there are many subtle differences within different versions of the flex bone offense. Some of these differences are not always easily noticeable but they can include aspects such as the types of complementary plays used, the type and frequency of the passing game, as well as the use of formations, motions, and personnel.

The focus of this article will be the Quick Passing Game in the flex bone offense with a focus on the QB’s decision-making within this series. I, personally as a player and now as a coach have always believed in the Quick Passing Game. I believe that there is a place in just about every offensive system for the Quick Passing Game. And even though I have never met a flex bone coach that decided on running the flex bone offense mainly so he could run a quick passing game, I still firmly believe it belongs for many reasons that will be pointed out in this article. Please notice that I will refer to this passing series as the “Quick” passing game because it is not limited to only a true 3-step drop by the QB. This is a very simple yet versatile passing game for the flex bone offense, one that I have used for over 20 years. I hope that you find this article beneficial to you in some way to help you with your offense.

 

Passing Game Offensive Optimums:

NOTE: The flex bone offense also achieves these optimums on nearly every play.

  1. (4) eligible receivers aligned at or near the LOS on nearly every snap and still having the threat of an effective run game present.
  2. Basic coverage looks that are easy to Identify – also predictable and Very little True Cover 2.
  3. A lot of 1 on 1 coverage – Good if the match-ups favor you of course.
  4. Minimal stunts and blitzes from the defense; and the ones they do run are mostly run blitzes and not exotic pass rush schemes and games.
  5. 8- and 9-man defensive fronts whose 1st priority is to Stop the Run!
  6. The secondary defenders are in a run/pass conflict on nearly every snap vs this offense.

 

Benefits of Quick Passing Game in The Flex Bone Offense:

In general, as a coach, I don’t mind thinking outside of the box, especially when I feel like it gives our players the best chance for success. Many flex bone coaches may view their passing game as one of “feast or famine” meaning they will ONLY throw the ball when they feel like the defense is over-playing their run game and these throws are typical of the deep variety (feast or famine). This mindset typically leads to a play-action passing attack that has big-play potential but is also low percentage in nature.

Below is a list of “why’s” that I believe that the quick passing game not only fits in the flex bone offense but also enhances the offense’s productivity overall:

  1. The quick passing game is typically short, safe, and high % throws that plays to a flex bone QB’s passing abilities. This is the 1st part of our passing game that we install since it is the easiest and most inexpensive part of our passing game.
  2. It takes the pressure off the run game and gets the ball into open space on the perimeter without us having to read our way out.
  3. For us the quick passing game uses the same basic protection scheme that we use with most of our overall passing game, therefore this is not an expensive addition to the offense.
  4. The reads for the QB are very simple and 99% coverage proof. Most of the time the QB knows exactly where he is going with the ball before the snap. Note: There are times when the QB has more than (1) a good way to go with the football on his decision-making.
  5. The quick passing game is an excellent part of our hurry-up or 2-minute offense, especially for quick-out routes to work the sidelines and the clock.
  6. It gets Wide Receivers involved in the offense as a receiver and runner. Our WR’s must embrace blocking, but if you have a good athlete or if you just have a good opportunity to get them the ball in space then this enhances their contributions to the offense.
  7. Our quick passing game has some easy to add complements that make this a true package within the offense itself. These complements include QB Draw, Quick Perimeter Screens, and the majority of our Red Zone Passing Game. This article will look at each aspect of the quick passing game except for the QB Draw.
  8. The quick passing game mostly puts the run game defenders in conflict and forces the pass game defenders (corners) to come up and make tackles in space.
  9. It is very flexible in terms of the routes and depths that we can incorporate in this passing game series. We will utilize many different drops that will marry up to the route and depth of the route that we are running. We can and will use a 1-step, 2-step, 3-step normal, 3-step fast and hold, and a 3+ step drop as necessary within this series.
  10. The quick passing game can easily be protected with a safety net by packaging a run, or a route conversion to the route, or receiving sideline help to decide if the defensive look is not favorable for it.

 

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